Organs of 3-Year-Old Drowning Victim Could Save Up To 8 Children

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(Memphis) Three-year-old Ava Grace Hart spent the last four days at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital fighting for her life.

She was taken off life-support Thursday and her organs were donated.

It's not the outcome family and friends were praying for after the 3-year-old was found Sunday unconscious in the pool behind her Collierville home.

People were hoping for a miracle, instead, Ava Grace became the miracle.

Her parents chose to donate her organs so that others may live.

“I'm so thankful for my daughter because she has saved me and she has helped save many other people,” said Will Hart, Ava Grace’s father.

The 3-year-old's life will now save as many as eight children through the donation of organs like, heart, kidneys, lungs, and liver.

A donation like this also helps grieving families, according to the Mid-South Transplant Foundation's Executive Director, Kim Van Frank, “We've been told in one of the darkest moments of their life, when they say yes to donation, it does give them hope. It helps them heal and their love one will live on. They'll leave a legacy.”

Van Frank says there is a huge need for donations.

There are 114,000 people on a waiting list to receive life-sustaining organs.

While Ava Grace's life couldn't be saved, her life saved others.

“Families will often tell us, ‘If I can stop someone from feeling the way I am right this moment, then that’s part of the purpose of why my little boy or my little girl was here’,” said Van Frank.

The Collierville Police Department says the family was not negligent in this drowning.

There was a fence around the pool, but the three-year-old was able to unlock the gate and get in.